YuGiOh: Love and War
by Astral Dragon
Summary: Eventually, this will be a YamiTea Romance. But for now, its all Action! Our story begins: A mysterios someone kidnaps Kiaba, and attacks Marik. What does it all mean? Hey this is a long story, so you'll have to be patient. Please RxR, no flames please?
1. Intruder

**Astral Dragon**: Howdy all you readers out there! The name's Astral Dragon, but you can just call me Astral, or AD. You know, whatever floats your boat. Today (by which I mean the 13th, since I didn't get this onto the site when I started it) is my birthday, and as my present to myself, I am posting my first piece of writing here on I'm so excited! The first chapter of my first fic ever! I hope you all like it. The idea for this story came to me, if I'm remembering correctly, as I stood in line to get some Mongolian Barbeque at the mall, looking at a fresh pack of Yu-Gi-Oh CCG cards, and remembering another fanfic I had read on this site. It's going to be a Yami/Tea romance/adventure story, but as they say, the journey is more important than the destination, so I'm not including any complete story summaries, except maybe after its done. I hope that you Seto/Tea or Yoai/Yuri fans won't let any couple prejudices keep you from reading the story. Now, its time to get this thing started, and I can't think of any better way than the traditional beginning to almost any story: forcing a random anime character to do the disclaimer for me! KENSHIN HIMURA! FRONT AND CENTER!

**Kenshin**: Oro! Oh, I suppose I should read this… Disclaimer: Astral Dragon does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, that he does not. It seems as though his bank account would have more than three digits in the balance statement if he did. However, he does own any and all original characters used, and requests permission if anyone else wishes to use them. Thank you for your attention!

**AD**: GET OF THE STAGE YOU SPOTLIGHT HOGGING SAMURAI!

**Kenshin**: ARRRGGGgggg…..

**AD**: Boy, that felt great! Now that that's settled, lets get on with the show!

Oh, and by the way, as a note, _Italics_ indicate thoughts, unless they are an entire section by themselves, in which case they are flashbacks.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Intruder**

In the early hours of the morning, the sun peeked through the skyscrapers of Domino City, casting parts of the city into shadow, while covering others in a warm orange hue. From his perch on the edge of the Kaiba Corporation Headquarters' roof, Seto Kaiba observed this contrast of light and darkness with only passing interest. Even though the beauty of the scene was not lost upon him, the young CEO's mind was occupied with more pressing concerns. Foremost among these was the mysterious letter he held in his hand.

It didn't seem like much; ordinary envelope, plain stationary, in fact, the only immediately apparent oddity was the lack of a signature and return address. The letters contents, however, were anything but normal. The letter consisted of two lines, which read:

**"Meet me on the Kaiba Corp roof in the morning. If you are not there, I will be forced to come and find you."**

Poorly veiled threat aside, Seto would dismiss such a mad letter out of hand under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, an apparent break-in at the Kaiba Mansion was not "normal circumstances." Why someone would go to the trouble of getting through the mansion's extensive security just to deliver a letter was perplexing enough. But even more so was the fact that none of the security cameras, which were arrayed in a pattern specifically designed by Seto to cover every inch of his home's grounds, had detected the messenger entering or leaving the compound, only his attaching of the letter to the front door.

This would have been unsettling to anyone, but the elder Kaiba was especially perturbed. Not that he would have admitted it to anyone, but the events of the Battle City tournament had, at least subconsciously, made it difficult for the skeptical executive to deny the existence of magic. And that's exactly what this seemed like; the man had appeared by magic, and disappeared the same way. Lost in his own thoughts, Seto failed to notice another presence until an unknown voice rang out behind him.

"Good morning Seto Kaiba." the voice said. It was a strong voice, used to giving commands, deep, but not especially so. It reminded him of Yugi's voice (Authors Note: By which he means Yami's voice, of course) in some ways, but more… sinister. Turning away from the cityscape, Seto was greeted by a man shrouded in a long black cloak. Only the man's face was visible. It was a handsome face, with pale blue eyes, well-defined features and no particular oddities. Except, of course, for the Egyptian symbol know as the Eye of Horus glowing brightly on his forehead. Recognizing the symbol from whenever Marik began using his mind tricks during Battle City, Kaiba was immediately put on guard, though he managed to maintain his nonchalant stance.

"Since you must be the man from last night, I suppose asking how you got past my security would be pointless." the teenaged tycoon mused. He was rewarded with silence. "Well," he went on, "assuming you have one of those Millennium Items, which would seem most likely considering that unsightly eye on your forehead, I assume you want to duel with me for 'my soul,' or some other nonsense. Let's just get this over with." Kaiba reached into his pocket for his dueling deck, but paused as a black-gloved hand extended from the stranger's billowing cloak, grasping a golden disk, about the size of a CD, with the same eye symbol carved into its center. Suddenly, the unknown figure spoke up.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Mister Kaiba, but I don't have time for games." Before Seto had a chance to react, an intense golden light filled his field of vision, and with a cry of surprise, he lost consciousness.

_

* * *

_

_Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED! _This single thought rang through Marik Ishtar's mind over and over again, and there was no relief in sight. He was sitting on an extremely comfortable leather couch, in the entertainment room of the lavish mansion recently purchased by his sister, Ishizu, in an attempt to remain close to the pharaoh in case he had need of her. To Marik, however, this place was nothing more than a comfortable prison. He was confined here, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, under his sister's orders, as a penance for his mind-controlling, world-dominating antics during Battle City. He remembered the argument he'd had with her over it as if it were yesterday…

* * *

_"But Ishizu, it wasn't MY fault I was trying to take over the world and kill the pharaoh! It was all the spirit of the rod's influence!" he had pleaded. His normally vague and mysterious sister had glared at him and replied in a very blunt manner._

_"Don't give me that little brother! You may have half-convinced the others that you were a poor, defenseless victim in all this, which is probably why King Yami allowed you to keep the Millennium Rod, but I know better. Whether or not you wanted to take over the world, your childish resentment towards your destiny and the Pharaoh only helped Malik influence you. Thus, you were at least partly responsible for the reckless endangerment of Yami and all his friends. Fortunately for you, I will be lenient because you have already served a measure of punishment at Malik's hand. Your sentence is confinement to this house for the next two months. Consider yourself grounded."_

**

* * *

**

"Oh sure Ishizu," he raged sarcastically to the empty room, "having my body stolen, part of my soul sent to the shadow realm, and the Winged Dragon of Ra taken from me couldn't possiblybe sufficient punishment." Sighing, Marik went back to contemplating what he could do to entertain himself. Even though he had already finished his first month of confinement, he had exhausted virtually any and all interests for himself.

With Odion and his Rare Hunters mobilized by his sister to search Egypt for artifacts and information that would help reveal more of Yami's destiny, and Ishizu herself spending days at a time at Domino Museum working her way through waist-high stacks of research books, Marik was almost always alone, so conversation or any other group activity was out. He had seen the same soap operas and talk shows so many times he had started to guess what the people would say before they said it…

* * *

_Marik sat dejectedly on the couch, barely awake, staring blankly into the TV screen. With a supreme effort, he managed to move his index finger just enough to click the remote control's channel button. The channel changed, and the screen showed a man in his early twenties speaking to a similarly aged woman. "Mary," he said, "this is hard for me, but…"_

_"I'm in love with your sister, even though your mother is carrying my child," Marik announced dejectedly, predicting what the next line would be._

_"I'm in love with your sister, even though your mother is carrying my child!"_

_After hearing the woman give a decidedly fake gasp, Marik flipped the channel again. This time, the screen showed a redheaded woman in her late fifties interviewing a couple that could only be described as trashy._

_"Joan has something to share with you Ted," the host informed the male of the pair._

_"Ted…" his girl began slowly._

_"I'm actually a man, and I'm sleeping with your best friend," the ex-rare hunter murmured, again predicting the next sentence._

_"I'm actually a man, and I'm sleeping with your best friend!"_

_A disgusted Marik clicked the remote again, hoping to find something a bit less repetitive. What he found was yet another talk show, this one featuring a smarmy looking man with a bushy moustache as the host talking to an obviously rebellious teenager._

_"So, Mona, why did you call your mother a bleep?" he asked her in the manner one would a three-year-old._

_"She doesn't understand me. I need to be my own woman, and make my own decisions," Marik sighed out, preparing to fall asleep, possibly without even bothering to shut his eyes._

_"She doesn't understand me. I need to be my own woman, and make my own decisions."_

_A few minutes later, snoring began to emit from the teen as his still-open eyes stared blankly into space._

* * *

He had polished his motorcycle so many times, he had worn through the paint. So he had repainted it. Then he repeated the cycle. Twice. He had tried to occupy himself with his boxes upon boxes and mountains upon mountains of rare and powerful duel monsters cards, but you could only stare at Skull Archfiend of Lightning and Goblin's Secret Remedy for so long before you got tired of it. He had even begun resorting to sleeping for eleven hours a day just to pass time, but when he woke up, he still had to fill thirteen more. Feeling beaten, the former tomb-keeper slumped down into the couch, and likely would have spent the rest of the day staring at the wall in a catatonic state had he not heard an enormous bang from another room. 

Rising swiftly, he crept through the house's corridors, ending up in the room on the left side of the entrance hall, and peaked around the corner. The Egyptian teen was delighted to discover the banging sound had been the front door being forced open, and the one who had done the forcing was a man dressed in a black cloak, standing with his back to Marik, apparently admiring the rather impressive entryway; an open room with a 30 foot ceiling and a grand staircase to the upper levels, decorated with various vases and paintings.

_A robber! _he thought to himself,_ this should entertain me for at least an hour! _Taking the Millennium Rod from his back pocket, Marik stepped out into the open, aimed, and cast his mind control spell at the intruder. "Welcome to the house of Ishtar, my new Mind-slave!" he called to the black-clad thief. He sent a mental command to the man to turn around, and though the rest of his face was hidden by his cloak's hood, Marik saw the Eye of Horus glowing on his forehead quite clearly. Unfortunately, the teen didn't know this wasn't because of his spell.

He discovered this very quickly, as the man raised his hand of his own accord, and sent a wave of shadow magic at Marik, knocking him over. For a split second after he hit the ground, his mind struggled over whether to be shocked or enraged. He decided on the latter.

Leaping up, the dirty blond boy stared at the stranger with indignation. "I don't know who you are," he said "or where you learned to use shadow magic, but to be frank, I don't really care. Now, lets get on with it!"

By way of response, the intruder drew a single Duel Monsters card from his cloak's pocket. Marik stifled a laugh. "So, not man enough to duel me? Plan to summon your monster in corporeal form? Fine." Reaching into his own pocket, and drawing a card of his own, Marik grinned.

"This may not mean anything to you," he began "But I was once the leader of the Rare Hunters. That means I have access to the rarest and most powerful cards in the world. So if you think you have any chance, I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken." This said, Marik revealed the card he had chosen to his attacker. " I doubt some low level assassin or other flunky would have heard of a card this powerful, but trust me, now would be a good time to start trembling." Focusing his shadow magic through the card, Marik cried out "I summon Chaos Emperor Dragon, Envoy of the End!"

Behind the teenaged duelist, an immense shape began to materialize. The bat-like wings, scaly skin and vaguely reptilian head identified the creature as a dragon. Almost completely blue, the monster had silvery metallic plates all over its body, almost like a suit of armor. A jet of fiery red hair betrayed the illusion of tranquility the beast's coloring provided, personifying its chaotic, destructive nature. The dragon radiated an aura of pure, unadulterated power.

It let out a mighty roar, and Marik laughed hysterically as the intruder continued to simply stand there. "Scarred stiff fool?" he asked, "I don't blame you. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I won't use his special ability; it would completely destroy my sister's new house, and everything in it, except for me. But 3000 attack points should be more than enough to defeat anything you can muster." Casually slipping his hand back into his pocket, Marik thought to himself, _Especially with my shadow spell trap to protect him._

Staring intently at Marik's dragon, the unknown man maintained his air of confidence. Seemingly unworried, he held his card above his head, and focused. Within moments, a rip opened up in mid-air behind him, and streams of inky purple fog began to billow out of it. _Ah, a shadow realm portal_ Marik mused. _A bit overdramatic, but it'll get the job of summoning done, I suppose. Now lets just see what this fool… _Marik's train of thought came to an abrupt halt as he saw what had emerged from the portal: an enormous blue hand.

Suddenly feeling a deep chill down his spine, he shouted, "B...but that's impossible! This must be some sort of trick!" But no amount of disbelief on the part of the former tomb-keeper could stop the hand from forcing the dimensional rift further open, to reveal its owner's full, awe-inspiring figure.

Standing at least twenty feet tall, the monstrous warrior glanced down at Marik's ten-foot high dragon with contempt. The demonic wings, spiked head and shoulders, and layer upon layer of muscle were imposing enough. However, the true horror of this colossus was its face. Its mouth was fixed somewhere between a fierce grimace and a demon's grin. And it eyes… its eyes glowed blood red, and seemed to cast their fiery gaze directly into Marik's soul. It was a face that could display only one emotion: hate. Marik Ishtar felt a deep terror, knowing this was no hologram. He was staring into the face of a god. His opponent's creature was the Egyptian God monster, Obelisk the Tormentor.

* * *

**AD**:Ooooh… cliffhanger. I bet all the Marik fans out there are hating me right now. That's right, both of them. Ok, jokes aside, please review! I need to know how I'm doing. Feel free to pick out glaring grammatical errors, but please don't flame me. I'm fragile. Well, that's it. My first story ever. Hope you like it, and look forward to the next chapter! 

Further Authors notes: I've edited this story twice now, so please let me know if I missed anything. The eye of horus, for those who didn't guess, is the symbol on the millennium items, at least that what I've heard on the net. If I've heard wrong, let me know. Also, I'll be taking some liberties with the battle city arc's ending for these setup chapters, so please bear with me and let them go.

**Next time**: How's Marik going to get out of this one? And what happened to Seto? And, oh yea, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE! Find out next episode! Same Yu-Gi-Time, Same Yu-Gi-Website!


	2. To Fight the Gods

**Astral Dragon**: Hello friends! I'd like to state that I am perhaps the biggest looser on Earth. A whole year without an update? That's beyond pathetic! hits self

There is no excuse for such lameness! However, I will say that things were rather hectic for me last year. This year will be different. DIFFERENT I SAY!

Hopefully, over the past year my writing has improved a little. I want to extend a personal thank you to **Ethelflaed**, for the honor of giving her honest review of my story (you're one of my favorite authors!). Also, I give a very extra special thanks to **Star-Goddess Z**; imagine my surprise to find a new review for my age-old story! Without your kindreview, I may never have gotten the resolve to update! Thanks! And, of course, thanks to my other reviewer, **The Muses Tk and Zv**, for staying on my case and not giving up on me!

Now, whom shall I shanghai to read my disclaimer today?… Kurama! Get over here!

**Kurama**:Yes?

**Astral**: Read the disclaimer!

**Kurama**: Must I?

**Astral**: Yes

**Kurama**: Umm... Astral Dragon does not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any character or product related to it. If he did, he would start an arc that involved Yugi learning Magic: The Gathering (which is also not owned by Astral) so one of his friends would stop saying how lame the show is.

**Astral**: That baka! Incidentally, that's another story I'm working on, but you know what they say about over-extending yourself.

**Kurama**: No, what do they say?

**Astral**: …Quiet you! BTW, I'll be resubmitting Ch.1 in the next couple of days with a properly written "TV scene" among other edits, so watch for it. And I may be changing the name of the story soon, as I've had a year to think about how lame "Love and War" is. ; ) Anyway, on with the story! Now with proper section dividers!

* * *

Previously, on Yu-Gi-Oh… 

A mysterious cloaked man who apparently has an unknown millennium item has begun to attack familiar figures in Domino City. This man is different from past threats, not bothering to duel them as most enemies would, but instead taking them by force. He has already captured Seto Kaiba, and apparently broken into the home of Marik Ishtar with plans of doing the same to him. But this time the man came with powerful help; the Egyptian God Monster, Obelisk the Tormentor

* * *

Desperate to save himself from the cloaked intruder's god monster, Marik drew the trap card in his pocket, and called out its name; "Shadow Spell!" Chains pulsing with dark energy lanced out of the card's picture and ensnared Obelisk's legs, arms and neck, apparently stopping the creature cold. 

Under normal circumstances, the Shadow Spell card would prevent the captured monster from attacking, as well as draining some of its power. This would have given Marik time to strengthen his dragon, or come up with another plan. Unfortunately, haste and fear caused him to forget a very important fact: one of Obelisk's powers is complete immunity to any and all trap cards.

With a simple flex of its powerful limbs, the Egyptian god snapped the dark chains binding it, then grasped the one around its neck and tore it loose as well. Grasping the chain like a whip, Obelisk gave it a sharp crack. As it was still attached to the card in Marik's hand, the attack sent the teen flying into a wall like a rag doll. His first opponent removed, the god soldier then turned on the Chaos Emperor Dragon Marik had summoned, which was doing it's very best not to cower in fear.

With a defiant roar, the dragon spewed and enormous gout of fire in a panicked attempt to defend itself. Sadly, other than charring the room around Obelisk, the attack did nothing to change the situation. Ignoring the flames completely, the dark god began to stride across the room, slowly but purposefully, every step shattering the marble floor beneath it.

Trying to ignore the pain, Marik forced himself to stand back up. After a quick survey of the situation, he knew he had only one option.

"Chaos Emperor Dragon!" he commanded, "Activate your special ability! Destroy this entire building with your Apocalypse Blast!"

Hearing his masters command, the dragon grunted and affirmative, then stretched out its mighty wings. With one enormous thrust, it shot first into the air, then straight through the roof. Ignoring the dust and debris raining down around him, the intruder remained unfazed as Marik flashed him a cocky grin. The ex-tomb keeper knew the attack wouldn't harm him, and that Obelisk was likely to survive as well. But the stranger himself was a different matter, and without his magic, the god would fade back into the shadow realm.

* * *

High above the Ishtar Mansion, the dragon halted its ascent and opened its jaws. Focusing its powers, as well as gathering ambient destructive energy from its surroundings, the creature began to form a glowing ball of golden energy, which grew larger by the second and pulsed with a menacing light. 

Within moments, the sphere was ten feet in diameter, nearly as large as its creator. The exhausted monster then gave a final burst of energy, sending the projectile toward its target, then began to fall alongside it, life force spent. It knew that the end result was the same this way as it would have been had it fought the god soldier, but as its body melted back into the shadows, the majestic beast thought that at least this way, it would take the mighty Obelisk down with it.

* * *

Marik's assailant did indeed recognize the danger he was in, and a quick glance through the hole in the roof provided him a glimpse of the destructive orb that was descending on the house. But he had a plan as well. 

As Marik looked on, the intruder drew two more cards from within his cloak and materialized them to the mortal plane. Being a card connoisseur, the former Rare Hunter recognized the swift-looking dinosaurs that appeared next to the stranger as Gilasauruses, valuable for the ease and speed with which they could be summoned. At first, the teen couldn't figure out what the man intended, but it became all too clear when the intruder made two simple gestures to the now stationary Obelisk; a finger pointed at each creature, followed by the sharp motion of a slice across the width of his neck.

Without preamble, the god reached out to the dinosaurs and grasped one in each hand. The twin raptors struggled, biting and scratching the mighty hands that held them, but it was too late. Obelisk slowly closed its fists, and in an instant the dinosaurs were gone in a flash of light as it absorbed their life energy, unleashing his greatest ability.

_Soul Energy Max!_ Marik's mind cried, his panic growing steadily, _He's trying to make Obelisk strong enough to block the Chaos Dragon's attack!_

Infused with the energy of its allies' souls, the great tormentor was surrounded by a dark aura, and its appearance changed subtly. It seemed to grow even more muscular, its color shifted from blue to a light purple, and a symbol that appeared to be the infinity sign appeared on its chest. Marik could feel waves of energy radiate from the beast as it turned to face the oncoming blast. For one, tense moment, time seemed to stop. Then a wall of brilliant gold replaced most of the entryway's remaining ceiling. 

For the first time, the attacker spoke, and his voice, though distorted by his heavy cloak, seemed almost tantalizingly familiar to Marik. "Obelisk the Tormentor!" he commanded, "Counterattack! Fist of Fate!"

Drawing back its huge fist, Obelisk focused its full power, and struck. The punch and energy blast collided, and both ground to a halt. For a few seconds, the blows were stalemated, but then the god monster began to push the sphere back. With one final thrust, Obelisk reversed the direction of the dragon's final strike, sending it back into the sky, where it could dissipate harmlessly.

Marik was dumbstruck. Even though he should have known better, he had dared to hope even an Egyptian God monster couldn't summon the force necessary to stop his dragon's ultimate attack. He knew then that he was doomed.

Vowing not to go quietly, Marik removed the false bottom from his Millennium Rod, revealing the sharpened spike that could be used as a weapon in an emergency, then addressed his approaching attacker. "All right then fool, come and get me! I promise it won't be as easy as you think," he boasted, refusing to let fear show. He subconsciously noticed that Obelisk was fading away, but was too preoccupied to care about that little bit of good fortune. "I do have one question for you, though," the young Egyptian went on, hoping to buy time, "How did you manage to get Obelisk away…from…"

His voice trailed off suddenly due to shock, because as he had spoken a brief gust of wind had swept through the hole that once was a roof and blown back the stranger's hood, revealing a face that both matched the now obviously recognizable voice, and allowed Marik to finish his sentence.

"Kaiba!"

Blank eyes and glowing hieroglyphic symbol not withstanding, the man was indeed Seto Kaiba. Consumed by his shock and confusion, Marik offered no resistance as the teenaged tycoon calmly closed the remaining distance between them, drew back a fist, and gave his prey a sharp uppercut to the gut.

Falling to his knees in agony, both hands clutching his wounded abdomen, Marik heard only his own heart, pounding like a jackhammer. He managed to raise his head enough to see Kaiba draw back his booted foot. The only thought he could form before the sweet darkness embraced him was, _Ask a stupid question…_

* * *

Several miles away from the Ishtar home, the man who had taken Kaiba emerged from the dark corner he had waited in while his first servant went to collect his second. He had been observing, and he had to admit he was impressed. The eldest Kaiba brother had impressive magical potential, no doubt due to his lineage. Getting him to tap it without a millennium item had been a difficult, but worth the effort. 

But he had no time to sit and muse. If Kaiba or Ishtar's disappearances were noticed, the element of surprise would be lost, and if Marik's sister had noticed the shadow energy of the battle, as he had no doubt she did, said disappearance would be noticed soon. He sent a mental command to Kaiba, ordering him to take the prisoner to the hideout and keep him unconscious so he could go after the remaining targets himself. He felt rather than heard the response of _Yes, master,_ over their mental link, then left the teen to his own devices, knowing the hold he had over him could not be broken. He then proceeded to make a seemingly impossible leap from his place on the street to a nearby roof, and set off for the east side of the city at a run, leaping from rooftop to rooftop without even slowing. _Just two more pieces of the puzzle left to collect, _he thought,_ and then this world will be mine._

* * *

**Astral**: Beware of my poor foreshadowing! Anyways, hope you liked and will review! I know it's not worth a year of hype, but I did my best. 

On a side note, this story will contain a fair amount actual dueling, which hopefully won't turn some of you readers off. I know some young authors who use duel-heavy stories to fill up chapters and cover up an inability to write plots for the characters as opposed to the duels, but I assure you this won't be the case for me. I plan to intertwine the dueling with true character development and plot, much like the show does, and I hope I'm a good enough writer to do it.

Also, if anyone is interested in being a beta-reader, I could use one. (yes, I know you will be one musestk. I meant another one besides you :P ) I'm working on fiction for other anime besides Yu-gi-oh (Naruto and Inuyasha come to mind), so you must be willing to review stories other than just these. Or, conversely, if you could recommend someone for those stories and only want to review Yu-gi-oh, we could do that. Or whatever.

Anyways, next time, our mysterious villain will go after his next victim. And this time he's got a very special trick up his sleeve. What is it? Hopefully you won't have to wait another year to find out ; You keep reading, I'll keep writing, no matter what I have to do to get myself to do it, so stay tuned. See ya soon!


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